The sultans of Western Borneo imported Chinese laborers in 18th century to work in gold or tin mines. A number of mining communities (kongsi) enjoyed some political autonomy,but Lanfang is the best known thanks to a history written by Yap Siong-yoen, the son-in-law of the last kapitan of the Lanfang kongsi, which was translated into Dutch in 1885. None of the other Chinese mining settlements in western Kalimantan left written accounts